The Proposal
by burtneymac95
Summary: After their talk with Cyrus, Fitz decides it's time to finally propose to Olivia. Based on 5x05 promo and promo pics.


_So after seeing the promo pics for this week's episode- the one where it looked like Fitz was really upset like she had said no or something- I couldn't get this idea out of my head._

 _I promise to update my other story "The Interview" soon! College has just been a real bitch lately._

 _Hope you all enjoy!_

 _Disclaimer: What?! I don't own Scandal?! Damnit!_

* * *

"Charlotte, do you happen to know where the president is?"

Olivia had been worried about Fitz all day. Ever since they had that ridiculous talk with Cyrus the day before, he had been acting strange. She had no idea what was going through his mind. Now he had been AWOL for a couple of hours and she was starting to get antsy.

"No ma'am. The last time I saw him was a couple of hours ago. You're more than welcome to wait for him in his office, or even the balcony, if you would like."

"The balcony sounds wonderful. I could use some air right now. If you see him, could you send him out there?"

"Of course, Ms. Pope."

"Thank you, Charlotte."

Olivia gave a half smile to Charlotte before walking into the Oval Office to get to the Truman Balcony. She thought about the conversation with Cyrus and Fitz.

Marriage. Ha! That's ludicrous. Fitz was barely even divorced. While it did make sense that if they were married, she would not have to testify against him, but still. She wanted nothing more than to be married to him. She had thought about it for years. But it wasn't right. The timing wasn't right, the _reason_ wasn't right. She wanted to marry Fitz because they loved each other and wanted to consummate their relationship. Not so she couldn't testify against him.

She walked out onto the balcony, stopping dead in her tracks. There were candles everywhere, rose petals on the ground, and Fitzgerald Grant was standing before her in his finest tux.

"Fitz, what the…what is this?"

He walked towards her with a huge smile on his face, making her heart beat faster and faster. She knew exactly what this was. This wasn't happening right now. No. It wasn't right.

"Fitzgerald Grant, if you even think about proposing to me…"

"That's exactly what I'm doing."

He got down on one knee and pulled out a ring. A beautiful, over-the-top, huge diamond ring.

"Livvie…" he began.

She shook her head no, tears filling her eyes. She wanted this so bad, she always had. But it was not their time. Not yet.

"You are everything to me. You are my lover, my confidant, my biggest supporter, my…my best friend. We have been through hell and high water these past seven years. We've hurt each other more times than we can both count. But our love has always prevailed. We were meant to be together, I know that for a fact. You saved me. You saved me from a loveless marriage, you saved me from being a lousy presidential candidate, you saved me from living a long and miserable life of never knowing what it's like to truly be in love with someone. You are the most amazing, beautiful, caring woman I have ever laid my eyes on. You are an inspiration, a goddess, a bad-ass in every sense of the word. When I'm with you, there is no other place in this world that I'd rather be. You make me feel alive and important. You make me feel like I can do anything that I set my mind to. You believed in me when no one else did, and I will never be able to thank you enough for that. You own me, you control me, I belong to you. You are my saving grace. You are the love of my life. I want to spend every single day of the rest of my life waking up to your beautiful face. I want to have babies with you and I want to move to Vermont, where I can be the mayor and you can make jam. I want you all day, every day, forever. We are in this together. So…Olivia Carolyn Pope, will you do me the enormous honor of being my wife?"

She started crying harder and harder throughout his speech, but at the end she couldn't hold it in anymore. What was she supposed to say to him? That was the most amazing, beautiful thing anyone hac ever said to her. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him and scream the word yes. But she couldn't. She knew she couldn't. The next word she was going to say was going to shatter his heart, but it needed to be done.

"No."

The smile on his face immediately went away. He slowly stood up, never taking his eyes off of her.

"No? What do you mean no?"

"It's not right, Fitz. We can't do this."

"We can't get married? Isn't that what we always talked about?"

"Yes, of course. What I mean is that we can't get married under these circumstances."

He looked at her with a confused look on his face. She put her hand on his cheek, trying to make him feel a little better.

"I want nothing more than to marry you. You know that. But I do not want it to be because of your trial. Your divorce isn't even final yet. I know Cyrus wants this to happen so I don't have to testify against you, but is this really how you want to do this? Is this really how you imagined it? Because I know it's not how I have."

He looked down with a defeated look on his face. She kept talking to make him understand.

"When I think about our wedding, I feel like a teenage girl completely obsessed with wedding planning. I think about every aspect of it. The flowers, the colors, the cake, the band, everything. I picture us surrounded by our closest friends, finally being able to show them how much we love each other. I picture us in the backyard of our house in Vermont. It's fall so it's not too hot and it's not too cold. I have a beautiful laced dress with long sleeves. My grandmother's favorite color was purple so that's the color we go with. Cyrus is your best man and Abby is my maid of honor. We exchange beautiful vows to each other, kiss, and go inside _our_ house for the reception. We cut into a magnificent tiered cake and feed it to each other. You smear it on my face and I do the same to you. Leo and Abby catch the garter and the bouquet. We enjoy a wonderful evening dancing around to our favorite songs as man and wife. After everyone has left, we get on a plane and go somewhere, anywhere we decide to go. Everything is perfect, for once in our lives."

Fitz's eyes are filled with tears. Her opening up to him like that about their wedding was the greatest thing. He wanted to give her exactly what she wanted.

"That can happen. Getting married right now won't change the narrative."

"Answer this question for me. If Cyrus wouldn't have approached us with this deal yesterday, would this be happening right now?"

"I…I've had the ring…"

"That doesn't answer my question. Regardless if you had the ring or not, would we still be standing here right now if it wasn't for Cyrus?"

"If we do this, you won't have to testify against me. It can save me."

"There are other ways around that, Fitz. We don't have to get married right now. I will figure something out."

"Is being married to me that terrible to you that you need to figure out other ways to keep me from going to jail?!"

"Did you not hear anything I said before? Of course I want to be married to you, but not like this! I can't and I won't. I want you to propose to me when we both know that it's the right time. When you are actually a divorced man. When you do it because _you_ want to, not because of Cyrus or your trial."

"I…I need you to go."

"Excuse me? Are you really going to be upset with me?"

"Olivia, please!" He screamed, causing her to jump back. "I need you to go home."

"No! I am not leaving."

"Olivia, go!"

"Why are you acting like this? Like a little bitch baby. Is your pride hurt that I said no? You know I'm not actually saying no to you. I will say yes, but not right now. Please don't be upset with me."

She grabs his hand and squeezes it.

"I love you. We will do this one day, I promise."

"If I go to jail, there might not be a 'one day'. Don't you get that? This wasn't me proposing to you because Cyrus told me to. I bought the ring a couple months ago when I saw my great-grandmother's ring on your finger again. I've been wanting to do this for so long. Yeah, Cyrus was a factoring issue. But I proposed to you because I love you and I want this right now. If I'm going to go to jail, I want to spend my last days of freedom with you as your _husband_. Saying yes to me right now doesn't mean that we're going to get married tomorrow. Well, if Cyrus had it his way we would. But I just want to be man and wife in case I lose this case...lose you. This was not me proposing to you because it needed to be done, this is me proposing to you because I love you and don't want to spend one more day not being married to you."

She looked up and kissed him more passionately than she ever had. He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. She slowly backed out of it, grabbing the box in his hand.

She took the ring out and inspected it. It was absolutely gorgeous. She thought about everything that he said and knew what had to be done.

"Well…are you gonna put it on me or do I have to do it myself?"

"So are you saying yes?"

"Yes. Yes! I will you marry you, Fitzgerald Grant."

He smiled harder than he ever had before and slipped the ring onto her finger. They both laughed as he picked her up and swung her around.

"I love you so much, Livvie."

"I love you too. Now carry me to our bedroom. I want to make love to my fiancé."

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 _Thoughts? :)_


End file.
